Mike Forizs bought his North Las Vegas home for $95,000; it originally sold for more than $300,000.

But the recession hit Vegas hard. Nevada's foreclosure rate has led the nation for more than four-and-a-half years; about 1-in-4 homes in the Vegas area is in some foreclosure process.

Prices have dipped by 40% or more. It means turnover and uncertainty for residents such as Forizs.

"A couple of the neighbors have already moved out because of foreclosure. There's like three or four (other houses) just on this little block that are empty already. And there's a couple neighbors" trying to refinance, Forizs says.

It does mean an upside for buyers, of course, including Forizs, who moved here a few months ago. His split-level home originally sold in the mid-$300,000s. Forizs bought it for $95,000.

"Guy let it go," he says of the last owner. "The banks weren't working with him."

Las Vegas' foreclosure rate -- one of every 118 housing units received a foreclosure filing August -- is a symptom of all the excesses of the American housing boom, but with shows, gambling and bright lights in easy reach.

The downside of that tourism-driven economy: Vacationers and convention-goers spend less or don't come at all. Residents who relied on tips to make the house payments found themselves unable to keep up. Unemployment is stuck in double digits.

Of all the homes sold, about a quarter are short sales. The borrower owes more on the mortgage than the house is worth.

George McCabe, a public relations executive who works with the Greater Las Vegas Association of Realtors, shakes his head. A lifelong resident, McCabe is contemplating his own neighborhood.

"I bought a home in 2003, in Summerlin, for $300,000," McCabe starts, speaking of a "master-planned," high-dollar suburban community.

"I lived in it through the boom, when my neighbors would gather around the mailbox and say, 'We all paid about three (hundred thousand dollars) and we can sell for 550 (thousand dollars). Isn't that amazing? Wow! We're all sitting on a gold mine.'"

To boot, many of those neighbors, like many around the country, borrowed heavily on their equity.

A notice on the door of a North Las Vegas home says it's vacant. The windows have been broken out.

"Now," McCabe says, "they stand around the mailbox talking about who may or may not be in danger of losing their homes to foreclosure or who's talking about walking away from their loan."

Juggling the stats is Paul Bell, president of the Greater Las Vegas Association of Realtors.

Now, a new trend emerges: More than half the homes sold here are cash transactions. That's a sign that speculators and investors are waiting for the next boom. In the meantime, they turn the houses into rentals.

The association lost more than 6,000 members since the start of the recession in 2007.

But Bell likes to point to a recent slow rise in home sales and prices.